If Colorado can sell its football vision, the university, Boulder and the Flatirons to Butch Jones on Monday, he will become the Buffaloes' football coach Tuesday.

Buffs athletic director Mike Bohn and CU president Bruce Benson are prepared to offer Jones a five-year contract worth more than $13.5 million, a source close to the situation said. Colorado also will commit to upgrade Folsom Field, the Dal Ward Athletic Center and the team's practice facilities.

Jones is ready to listen and is intrigued by the CU job.

Jones, the 44-year-old University of Cincinnati coach, and his wife, Barbara, will fly into Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport on Monday morning, then meet with Bohn, Benson, CU chancellor Phil DiStefano, oilman George Solich (a Colorado graduate and the football program's No. 1 booster), basketball coach Tad Boyle and other members of the athletic department. The Joneses also will tour the campus and the community.

Butch will spend Monday night with his wife discussing his alternatives: taking the job at CU or Purdue (which they visited Sunday), staying at Cincinnati and getting a renegotiated contract, or awaiting other potential overtures.

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After the Bearcats' final regular-season game Saturday, Jones and his wife traveled Sunday to West Lafayette, Ind., and listened to a proposal from Boilermakers athletic director Morgan Burke.

However, CU should be encouraged that Jones spent only four hours in West Lafayette, from late morning to mid-afternoon, didn't accept the position immediately and will be in Boulder on Monday.

Colorado administrators have been planning strategy for their conference with Jones, whom they identified, The Denver Post first reported, as their best and brightest choice as the successor to Jon Embree.

Jones is represented by prominent agent Trace Armstrong, a former No. 1 draft choice in the NFL who spent 15 years in the league as a defensive end with the Bears, the Dolphins and the Raiders. He's quite familiar with Colorado as an annual opponent of the Broncos while with Oakland. Armstrong served as the president of the NFL players' association for a time, and currently represents several pro and college coaches — including Green Bay's Mike McCarthy, Ohio State's Urban Meyer and Michigan's Brady Hoke.

Armstrong called me during the first half of the Broncos-Buccaneers game Sunday afternoon.

"Don't worry. Peyton Manning will lead the Broncos to a comeback victory," he said. He did.

Armstrong admitted that Jones, after talking with athletic directors and friends in the coaching profession, became very attracted to CU.

"Butch and CU have to find out if it's a good fit," said Armstrong, who wouldn't go into confidential details of the ongoing negotiations between the Buffs and Jones. But he did say that the resolution will happen quickly.

"I've done plenty of these (hirings and contracts), and it will be decided by Tuesday," Armstrong said. "This won't drag on. We'll see what happens at Colorado."

Armstrong said that if the deal can be completed, "Colorado will be getting a great coach. I compare him to Urban when he was coming up. Butch recruits tough, smart, quality players. I went to a practice at Cincinnati, and after a meeting, the players all came up to thank me for coming. One of the players said that that's the way coach told them to treat visitors."

I was impressed by a similar story. Jones teaches his players to hand the ball politely to an official after every touchdown. That's old school, and Jones is old school.

He believes in running the football (albeit from a new-school, wide-open, hurry-up, no-huddle spread) and having his players excel in the classroom. Forty-three of his players in 2011 compiled 3.0 grade-point averages during the season, and 23 made the dean's list. Cincinnati was honored last season as the Big East's No. 1 academic team.

Obviously, he could handle the University of Colorado's emphasis on scholarship.

On the field, he could handle CU's wish to improve recruiting and winning in the Pac-12. Seventeen players Jones coached at either Central Michigan or Cincinnati are in the NFL. One is Derek Wolfe, the Broncos' most recent top pick.

During Jones' six seasons as a college head coach, when his teams have been ahead at halftime, they've gone on to win 39 of 41 games. This year will be his fifth bowl appearance in six years.

Those are some of the reasons the Buffaloes are so determined to hire Jones. He is impressed with Bohn and his plan for the football program's future, Benson's assurance of backing from the administration and the intent of Solich, who once was a self-described CU "android," selling sodas at the football stadium to earn money while he was a student — many years before becoming one of the state's wealthiest men, and other boosters who support the program financially.

The Buffs appear to be in the lead. Colorado will try to make certain Jones doesn't leave town without signing a contract Tuesday morning.

Bohn should drive Mr. and Mrs. Jones to the Boulder overlook Monday afternoon. They would be sold on CU.

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

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